Cops Ticket Mom for Letting Son, 14, Babysit His Pre-K Brother

Lovely. A mom in England was ticketed for "cruelty" for leaving her 14-year-old son in charge of his 3-year-old brother for half an hour while she went out shopping.

Well, they don't call it a "ticket" in England, they call it a "caution" -- but forget semantics. The fact is, by allowing her teen to babysit for less than an hour, the mom lost her job as a health care assistant, because now her record shows her "committing an act of cruelty on a child or young person."

Feel free to scream.

What, exactly, is so cruel about letting your teenage son act responsibly? What is so cruel about showing him that you believe in him, and that you like the young man he's becoming?

And what is so cruel about letting your younger son be cared for by his older brother? Is anyone in the English establishment aware that many of today's parents were themselves babysitters at age 11 or 12?

In fact, has it dawned on these government goons that since the beginning of human history, teens have even been popping out children of their OWN? That those teen parents must've been doing something right, because our species survived to this day? And, by the way, prehistoric pubescent parents didn't babysit for half an hour, they raised their children to adulthood. In caves. With food they killed themselves.

But no -- half an hour of babysitting at home is just too much for modern day kids.

David Lancy, author of "The Anthropology of Childhood," estimates that, to this day, somewhere between 40 percent and 60 percent of the world's children are raised, in good part, by their siblings. Their moms are too busy eking out a living to spend every last minute minding the kids. Maybe we should send every lawmaker in England a subscription to National Geographic.

My elderly neighbor was just lamenting that "kids today" are so inept. "They don't know how to do anything. They expect everything done for them."

It's an old-lady whine, but she has a point –- she's just wrong about the culprits. It's not the fault of indulgent parents, or spoiled kids. It's the fault of a society that deems young adults indistinguishable from infants: They're all helpless. England's Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children actually states no one under the age of 16 should be allowed to babysit!

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ReaderComments (Page 1 of 4)

Oh, we are already there! The US has been this way for years! I don't know why they didn't include us! H A.. Kids did dishes when they were at least 7 years old 20 years ago. Now? They fight over who's going to unload the dishwasher!!! H A H A God help us ten years from now.

dang straight, we are in trouble. you cant be a good parent anymore without some nosey dumbass calling cps on you. and always the ones that dont have kids do it or the ones that dont stay home long enough to raise their own children always have a say in it . thanks for the comment, i love it

OR...The morons want to say something when your 13-year old watches his siblings before and after school because their single mother has to work. Sorry that I have a job and I don't sit on my ASS collecting welfare so I can be home with them all day every day. And their deadbeat dad is too busy taking care of some other woman's kids instead of his own. Thank GOD my son is learning to be responsible now so he'll be a great dad when he has his own family.

Oh, for crying out loud! How dumbed down can modern society get? A teenager SHOULD be able and capable of watching a younger sibling for a brief period of time! It teaches them RESPONSIBILITY! When I was 13, my parents saw nothing wrong with leaving us alone for an hour or two so they could go out, and we survived unscathed! All they asked was that I complete the Red Cross babysitting course first (which I had no problem with, since babysitting was a great way to earn some extra money on the weekends until I was old enough to work part-time!). When my older daughter becomes a teenager, I plan to do the same thing with the same requirement! And if some nosybody insists on calling CPS for it, we'll tell them where they can get off!

I feel very bad about the way that we are alowing government to determine the way that the country is going. What can we do to try to change some of this nonsense. I vote at every election, but it seems to be doing no good. Like glenda says, what happens to a 15 year old child that has a baby, Is she to stay with her parents and mandate them to raise their grandchild since she is to young? What if she wants to be emmancipated from her parents (who voted for this?), then who should carry the burden? I am thankful for having a forum to discuss such inportant topics, yet at the same time I feel dreadful for such a forum because (at times) it illicits such horrible and uninformed responses. Many blessings to all.

your'e so right! they stick their noses in our reproductive system, in our parenting responsibilities, basically telling us when we can breathe... the old coots need to get lives of their own and stop minding our business. Perhaps less higher office and more environmental, agricultural pursuits would keep their priorities in order, but nah, their too self important to do any real work!

Unbelievable!! Most kids I knew growing up, myself included began babysitting by 12. This is why we have a generation of young people that can't do anything for themselves. So do we now have to hire 16 year olds to watch 14 year olds? And I totally agree with some of the other posters here, what happens when a girl has a baby at 14? It seems that instead of being praised for trying to do the right thing and make kids take responsibility , parents are now being classified as abusive if they do anything but raise coddled , entitled brats who can't even tie their own shoes.

isnt this the truth i tell ya. you said hun. i cant believe this crap? wait , yes i can , this is just the beginning to what they will put us parents through. we are all seemingly being punished for having kids and raising them with morals and responsibility. i just dont know anymore. just sayin,,,thanks for posting a great comment.

They have babysitting courses for teens and preteens. My daughter was babysitting from the age of 13. I see nothing wrong with it. I was babysitting at that age. Where is this coming from? They want to train them, but don't want to allow them to babysit? Especially their own siblings? Makes no sense what so ever. As long as they have the proper training and know how, and aren't left with children overnight, there is nothing wrong with it. There is no law against it. If they are going to start ticketing they need to come up with a specific law, not just twist current ones to use for certain situation they deem innappropriate at the time. There is some back story to this we don't know. Maybe the teen in question has been in trouble in the past? That could cause a red flag. But I doubt it. This is just plain stupid.I like the comment about 15 year olds having children. Are they not allowed to be alone with their own offspring? Give me a break.

Glad to see a reasonable adult defending us teenagers. She's right about society viewing us as a whole "helpless and stupid", but that's just those few idiot kids who do things that send out the wrong message. Some of us are more responsible than most adults are, and that my friends, is the truth. The only ones who should be ticketed for watching children are those with drinking problems, emotional instability, etc.

I started 'babysitting' when I was pretty young. At 8 or so I would take all the younger cousins (being the oldest one) into another room/floor after we had been fed so the adults could have their supper and not be distracted by all of us underfoot. I was responsible to distract my cousins and keep them safe, even though the adults were within shouting distance.

From there I used to watch my brother ALL NIGHT when I was 12-13 because Mom had to work the graveyard shift and she couldn't always afford a babysitter. At about the same age, my best customer would go out from about eight in the evening to bar close and I'd watch her three children before walking myself home (3-4 blocks) around 3am (ok, we lived in a small town at the time but it's not immune to problems or paranoia).

Not that I suggest that what I did was necessarily good for children, but c'mon. Unless the 14 y/o is irresponsible or in some way incompetent to be taking care of a young child (and if they're incompetent they probably shouldn't be left alone themselves!) then a teen is perfectly capable of looking after a 3 y/o for an hour. Sheesh, that's not even long enough for a movie to run.